| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: a last effort. Alice has called up the vision of the Mother, and now
comes the grand trio to which the whole opera has led up: the triumph
of the soul over matter, of the Spirit of Good over the Spirit of
Evil. The strains of piety prevail over the chorus of hell, and
happiness appears glorious; but here the music is weaker. I only saw a
cathedral instead of hearing a concert of angels in bliss, and a
divine prayer consecrating the union of Robert and Isabella. We ought
not to have been left oppressed by the spells of hell; we ought to
emerge with hope in our heart.
"I, as musician and a Catholic, wanted another prayer like that in
/Mose/. I should have liked to see how Germany would contend with
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: For so it was in Athens and old Rome.
But that's not here or there; I've wandered off.
Greene does it, or I'm careful. Where's that boy?
Yes, he'll go back to Stratford. And we'll miss him?
Dear sir, there'll be no London here without him.
We'll all be riding, one of these fine days,
Down there to see him -- and his wife won't like us;
And then we'll think of what he never said
Of women -- which, if taken all in all
With what he did say, would buy many horses.
Though nowadays he's not so much for women:
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: HERDSMAN
Nay, I confessed I gave it long ago.
OEDIPUS
Whence came it? was it thine, or given to thee?
HERDSMAN
I had it from another, 'twas not mine.
OEDIPUS
From whom of these our townsmen, and what house?
HERDSMAN
Forbear for God's sake, master, ask no more.
OEDIPUS
Oedipus Trilogy |
